1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing dust particles from a vehicle body prior to spraying thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus for removing dust particles from top surfaces and first and second side surfaces a vehicle body prior to paint spraying thereof.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
To obtain quality paining of exterior surfaces of a vehicle body, dust, lint and other particulate contaminants must be removed from the body surfaces just prior to painting these surfaces. Previously, dust, lint and other particles have been removed by machines with various brushes and manually wiping with a tacky cloth the portions of the body missed by the brushes or by manually wiping the entire body with tacky cloths. These prior approaches are costly, not uniform and typically leave a significant amount of dust on the body.
More particularly, in the painting industry, it is necessary to tack off a vehicle body prior to painting of the vehicle body. Tacking off generally refers to the process of passing a vehicle body through an assembly, including a plurality of feather dusters. The feather dusters generally comprise a plurality of feathers, such as ostrich feathers, mounted on a rotatable hub. As the vehicle body passes through the assembly, the rotating feathers contact the vehicle body surface. The wiping action of the feathers against the vehicle body creates an electrostatic charge on the feathers. The charged feathers attract dust from the vehicle body. A shroud assembly is mounted over the feather dusters. Within the shroud assembly is an ionic discharge unit which continually discharges the dust from the feathers. A vacuum assembly within the shroud assembly removes the dust from within the shroud assembly. Problems arise when the vehicle bodies present nonplanar surfaces and depressions of varying widths. Specifically, vehicle bodies, such as flat-bed truck bodies, have planar surfaces on the hood and roof of the cab, but further include recessed portions of decreased width within the cargo-carrying area of the body. Complex and expensive machines have been devised which can tack off the hood and roof of the cab with one duster while using alternative means for tacking off the bed of the cargo-carrying area.